SEN. Alan Peter Cayetano yesterday tasked the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to determine who are responsible for the collapse of the Isabela bridge late last month after learning during yesterday’s hearing that defects were already observed while the infrastructure was being constructed.
“The job of the DPWH is to draft a list of who committed a crime. Demand the head, get the money back,” Cayetano said in a chance interview after he presided over the Senate Blue Ribbon sub-committee hearing in relation to the collapse of the Cabagan-Sta. Maria bridge in Isabela last February 27.
While he has tapped the DPWH to identify those responsible, Cayetano said he also wants a list of what remedial measures were done in relation to the discovered defects.
“But in the Blue Ribbon Committee, there are only two (things) — who has committed a crime and what should be the punishment. Second, what is the remedy? I didn’t ask today but I found out they have all the testing protocols,” he said.
Cayetano presented a compilation of observations from engineers on the defects on the bridge dating back 2018. Construction of the bridge started on November 2014 and was completed on February 1 this year.
In a memorandum dated June 17, 2018 to the DPWH regional director, project engineer Felipe Lingan Jr. noted that the deck slab “has shifted horizontally by approximately 100 mm as seen in adjoining expansion joint of spans 7 and 8, which led both columns of pier 8 to tilt.”
“And significant cracks were observed along the side of the columns, where tension was induced by the shifting of deck slab. The bolts connecting the main steel grinder to the arched structure near pier 7 were all snapped due to severe shear,” Lingan said in the memorandum.
He added that deformities were also noticed on the outermost steel cross beam at pier 7.
Lingan also came out with a supplemental report dated July 16, 2028 which stated that cracks were also noticed at the concrete slab of span 7 which they did not notice on the first inspection done on June 11, 2018.
“We first noticed the presence of horizontal cracks lately in one of our daily monitoring activities on span 8, but we somehow gave no importance to it as it is minimal in size and numbers. It was only during the second joint inspection last July 13, 2018 that we noticed horizontal cracks had multiplied and become very evident,” he said.
A memorandum report dated June 18, 2018 issued by Robert Panaligan, bridges division chief, said that the defects noted by engineer Albert Canete, the bridge designer, “should be properly endorsed by the original design consultant for their review/concurrence.”
“Per conclusions in the report, the outward deflections of arches are prevented primarily by composite concrete and steel arches in the adjacent spans. However, the construction procedure was not shown in the approved plan,” Panaligan said.
Panaligan said it was recommended that their consultant analyze the damaged condition, especially the effect of displacement and cracks on the overall structural integrity, and include the analysis of the induced stresses on all affected structural members and its effect when subjected to live and seismic loading.
He said that “revalidation/rechecking of the original design analysis, particularly all connections prior to the implementation of the remaining works” should be done, and “plans for repairs or remedial measures supported with design calculations must be done on pier columns, connection of bottom arches, steel hanger rods, floor system and deck slab, and expansion dam.”
Defects in similar nature were also noted on the bridge in separate memorandum reports dated January 28, 2019; May 15, 2019; January 10, 2020; August 1, 2020; and in a July 17, 2023 audit observation memorandum.
Cayetano criticized the DPWH for the lack of preventive suspensions since some officials involved are still in service and even up for promotion.
He said a preventive suspension is important to ensure a fair and credible investigation.
He also questioned the quality of steel bars used in the bridge, pointing out that the smooth break indicated potential substandard materials.
He asked Bonoan if the bolts and other structural components were inspected a month after the bridge collapsed, to which the DPWH chief replied in the affirmative but a DPWH inspector denied it.
Based on the DWPH submissions, Cayetano said that all 12 spans of the bridge had issues, contrary to claims by the DPWH that only five bridge spans had defects.
He said the DPWH even got the services of an independent structural engineer instead of holding the contractor accountable for the bridge to collapse.
DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan said the agency will come up with the final report of its investigation on or before April 25.
“The working theory of the department now is actually to investigate deeply on the circumstances behind the failure of one span of this bridge because we also want to learn actually, to put in in proper perspective,” Bonoan said.
He said that the Cabagan-Sta. Maria bridge “is the first kind of design of bridge that has been undertaken in the Philippines and that is why we want to learn from it, how the bridge was designed.”
He said the bridge has been actually turned over to the DPWH by the contractors since it was completed on February 1.
He also apologized for not being able to attend the first Senate hearing last week as he has to attend the Regional Development Council meeting which was presided by President Marcos Jr. last March 14.
